Engllish B & B's.

As you say there are thousands of B&B's in the UK. I know that there are people that say it's necessary to have all your B&B's books ahead, but it really isn't. If you are using public transportation you can go to the tourist information center in each town/village and they can get you a room at a B&B. If you are driving, then you can just looking for B&B signs when you are ready to stop for the night. When you go up to the door to ask if they have a room available, they usually offer to show you the room before you decide if you want to stay there. We have done it this way on all our trips to the UK, this was the months of March, April, May, June and July. The only rooms we book ahead are the first night in the UK and the night before you fly out. The rooms that you get on your own and/or the tourist office gets you will be as nice and maybe at times nicer then the B&B's in a tourist book.

I understand that you have to take TA reviews with a grain of salt. There are several discussions on the TA support forum and other forums about watching out for bogus reviews. If you read reviews having already done some homework, and pay attention, you can usually spot the ones to discount and the ones to pay attention to, both on the positive and negative side. You can easily see if the reviewer has posted reviews before or otherwise participated on the site, and if so read previous reviews to get a feel for what they consider acceptable if it wasn't clear from the review itself. I know going in that rooms in London are small, much smaller than Americans are used to, so I know not to worry too much about a reviewer who complains about lack of elbow room. And, again, making good use of the member-posted photos can sometimes quickly tell me whether a particular place meets MY needs and standards.

To say the entire site is a joke is throwing out the baby with the bathwater.

Going back to my original point, there are lots of recommended places that aren't universally loved, and there are plenty of places that you would be perfectly happy with that aren't recommended, whether you are talking about RS's books or any other travel guide. Use them as a starting place, then do additional research.

Keep in mind if you book at the TI, they charge the B & B a fee. Therefore, if I use this resource I only book one night and then if I like it, ask if I can extend-works better for me and my host.

The only small warning I would add to the advice already given is this. I wouldn't let it get to be overly late in the afternoon before seeking a room. Sometimes you might arrive at the time of a local festival or other event, and the town's accommodations will be full. Happened to us in Brighton, actually. TI called a nearby town and found us a perfectly fine hotel at a perfectly fine price. If you have a car, as we did, it's no problem. My recollection is that the other town, Arundel, was close enough that we could have taken a taxi if necessary. In the area you're visiting, there are no vast empty spaces; there'll always be a nearby town.

We always started looking for a B&B around 4-5pm and never had a problem finding one. A friend always uses the TI to get a room, I always find one myself and out of all the trips we never ever had trouble finding one even during the summer months.

I wouldn't bet that the 'best picks' are in anybody's book; there are just too many of them and it would be humanly impossible for any single source to have checked even a signifcant sampling.

We don't use guides since we never know exactly where we'll wind up for the night. We also think that if we did use a guide we'd target a recommended place then spend time finding it only to find it full since it was recommended.

What generally works for us is the Herself goes in and looks around. If it's full, the host recommends another. If Herself likes the one she's standing in, that's enough of a recommendation and we take the one just recommended. If she doesn't like what she sees, we move on a few blocks and start again.

The whole process might take fifteen or twenty minutes. Using the TI works just as well. We've never had a problem, been disappointed, or had to sleep in the car.

I have to say that I've combed through the B&B recs in the RS books, Frommer's, and Fodor's, and there are always many of those recs that get mediocre reviews on Trip Advisor. And, many lodgings that don't get mentioned in any of these books have stellar reputations on TA. So ... use TA to search, filter, and investigate your candidates. One invaluable feature on TA is the member-posted photos, where you can see the reality of what rooms, bathrooms, etc. are like.

I find the reviews on tripadvisor to be far more reliable than any information that I get from a guidebook. A typical guidebook has 3 sentences about a hotel. Tripadvisor can have many lenthy reviews. You can a variety of opinions.

Yes, there are fake reviews. However, with tripadvisor, you can see other reviews and posts that the author has made. Many reviewers post photos.

I have stayed at many hotels from the RS books; however, my best stays have all been selected via tripadvisor reviews. I find the RS books are helpful for choosing an area to stay in when I am unfamiliar with a city.

By the way, I have had tour operators and small places ask that you recommend them to friends or post a review on tripadvisor if you enjoyed your tour or stay. I have no problem with this. They don't know if I am going to post a good review or a bad review.

On our first few trips to England, we always just looked for signs, checked out the rooms and booked. Then we started going through the TI's. I've had much better luck getting the website listings of B&B's and reviewing them on line. I get this listing by region through Visit Britain. I don't get recommendations from others but I am able to go online and see the B&B, their rooms, where they're located, etc. We've had very good luck with this - that does, of course, mean we schedule in advance but has not been a problem for us.

Once in the UK I always use the TI. The only people who care that they charge a fee are the B&B operators who wouldn't be on the TI's list if they didn't agree to paying the fee. Additionally, I hate going up to a B&B only to find out that (a)once I say the room I wouldn't WANT to stay there or (b) they are too expensive. I always know where I am going to spend my first night and my last. I use smoothhound.co.uk a very lot. In Brighton we stayed at the Charlotte House..not wonderful but the staff was very nice and our room was quite large. From there we could walk to practically everything we wanted to see. We are great walkers. In Bath I like Cranleigh. I've been to Winchester but not stopped over night. Remember also that the TI's in any town can book you into other towns as well. They might not always like to but they can do it. Start your search before dark. There is nothing like trying to find a place to stay when it's dark and the TI is shut.